Dustin Johnson Survives Some Slippery Con-Artists

Typically you hear a lot of this sort of thing coming from the ranks of NFL players.

Athletes making big money have a target on their backs.  They can fall prey to unscrupulous “investment advisers” and all sorts of con-men.

But you don’t see it too often in the world of golf.

Golfers  typically grow up in environments where they understand the first rule of money — pay your Uncle — as in Uncle Sam.

When it comes to the IRS, pay, pay quickly, don’t make them come calling.  It is the one facet of our system where you are indeed guilty until proven innocent, which basically means they make you prove that you don’t owe what they think you owe.

Enough for today’s lesson in income taxes.

What we’re here to take a look at is a very, very high profile member of the PGA Tour falling prey to con-artists.

And you’d figure Dustin Johnson might not be the guy you’d expect to get scammed, after all, he’s not-quite-married to Wayne The Great One Gretzky’s daughter and you’d figure that The Great One would tell D.J. that if he wanted to invest some of his hard-earned cash in something, he might want to run it past The Great One’s people.

As it turned out, D.J. became involved with an attorney named Nathan Hardwick, who has been described as one of D.J.’s advisers.

Sadly, it seems Barrister Hardwick had a bunch of nasty habits that included fast women, gambling and world travel on private jets — the perfect formula for burning huge amounts of money.

It also turns out that Hardwick had a couple of shady partners — Mark and Gerrard Wittstadt.  Together, the Terrible Triumvirate way-laid something in the neighborhood $26 million from an assortment of clients, including D.J.

Sounds like these three crooks stashed the money in an escrow account, telling the victims that they had a great real estate deal lined up.

As it turns out, Harwick spent the money on a bunch of his aforementioned vices, including:

$680,000 for a luxury apartment in Atlanta, Georgia
$273,000 on a diamond engagement ring for an ex-fiancee
$186,000 deposit for a party on a private island
$635,000 on a custom private jet ride for the 2014 Open (at Royal Liverpool) with friends which included a round on the Old Course at St Andrews.

If that’s not enough, it also discovered in Hardwick’s trial that he spent another $7 million in various gambling casinos.

And speaking of the trial, that jury in Georgia convicted Hardwick of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 21 counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to federally insured banks.

Hardwick hasn’t been sentenced yet but the government is asking for 15 years in the slammer for Barrister Hardwick.  When it comes to slimy guys like this, that doesn’t seem long enough.

There is some bit of good news in this tale of piracy.

D.J. filed a lawsuit against Hardwick and the Wittstadt boys.  The lawsuit basically stated that the three made up an investment opportunity and got D.J. to write them a check for $3 million.

Good news is that D.J. got $2 million back.  Bad news is that the other million is out the window, so to speak.

But considering D.J.’s propensity for good play and ability to win golf tournaments, it certainly won’t matter in the big scheme of things.

Still, a million is a million and next time D.J. hears about a great deal, he might want to run it past Gretsky’s people.